Q. A few friends and I are interested in putting a short Internet radio show together and we're pretty much starting with nothing and trying to put something fun together. Could you let us know the bare minimums to putting a show like that together? Thanks, Dino Ainza
A. This is a deep subject about which many books have been written, but I think I can give you a couple of short ideas to start with. One of the best things about Internet radio is that when you do a show an archive is created that anyone can listen to later. So there is no reason to listen to it at the time that the show is live.
Tip #1: Make the Radio Show first. Learn to create, script, record, edit, sweeten (add music, sound effects, etc), mix the show using your Mac or PC as a recorder. You could use Minidisc for interviews or other live recordings, but to make something that doesn't sound goofy, you'll need to edit and your Mac or PC is the best way to do it. You can also add music and other sound effects in many editing programs. Do a search on the Internet for audio editing freeware or shareware if you don't already have some.
After you have the first radio show finished (in WAV or AIFF format) you'll need to convert it into an Internet format. You could convert to an MP3 file and let people download the file from your web site (Oh yes, you do have to have your own web site, but you probably have that already, right?). That would let you get started right away letting people know that you have finished one program let 'em listen to it, and get some feedback from your listeners. You could even email your MP3 first show to some friends if it isn't too long.
However, if you want to work toward something more Internet Radio like you'll want to convert to a streaming format. The most popular is RealAudio.
Tip #2: The software to convert to the RealAudio format is available for free personal use on their web site, www.real.com, along with LOTS of information about their system and their more elaborate offerings. For professionals they sell server software that can run into thousands of dollars. You just need the free personal server software if you want to have your own server. This will be a separate PC, Mac, or Linux machine that probably also hosts your web site. If you don't want to bother with having your own server, you'll need to get an account on an ISP that has a Real server running. They can give you instructions for putting you program(s) onto the server, and what you'll need to put on your web site so that you can have a button to "play" each of the programs.
If you are successful with making interesting programs that people want to hear, you'll have become a broadcaster (albeit not necessarily in real-time, but if you are "on the air" at noon, your Australian listeners will all be asleep anyway...). That's not a super complete answer, but you won't have spent much money, and you'll have learned whether you like the Internet Radio business well enough to go on to more challenging stuff (like webcasting live).
Good luck!
Q. Can I use DSL instead of ISDN?
A. That’s a question Dr. Net gets asked almost daily as DSL marketing goes into hyper-gear. Folks are worried that their investment in ISDN audio equipment might be rendered obsolete by different technology.
Herešs my answer: Don’t worry. ISDN is the choice for today and for the foreseeable future for high-quality, realtime, interactive connections. The Internet is starting to provide consumer applications and a few professional delivery applications (like our ClipMail Pro), but there is still no way to do professional realtime recording sessions over the Internet because of the differences between the Internet Protocol (IP) routed world and ISDN switched digital connections.
ISDN provides guaranteed bandwidth that lets digital content arrive at an exactly clocked pace. By contrast, routed IP bit streams don’t come through at a steady, predictable pace. They arrive in-groups (packets), and the arrival times are dependent on the network traffic load, which may vary widely at any given moment. With ISDN, you don’t need to worry that a connection from here to Paris will slow down due to traffic density, or that a slower computer at the far end canšt keep up with the audio. The ISDN connection, once established, is secure and predictable, whereas IP connections vary depending on traffic and equipment, and pass through many computers and routers along the way.
It is true that a fast IP connection with sufficient buffering can sometimes emulate a dedicated lower bandwidth connection for a while. But changing network conditions make it impossible to predict behavior from moment to moment. The predictability and regularity of ISDN means that the equipment can be simple and stable for professional applications.
Last but not least, an ISDN connection in Michigan is the same as one in Mumbai. This worldwide ISDN standard avoids the Internet problem of a sender having a high-speed connection while the receiver has a slow one.
So rest easy. Early adopters of ISDN technology, who made investments in it six or more years ago, are still using ISDN satisfactorily and profitably today. And new equipment deployed today may have expanded capabilities, but it is 100% compatible with the earlier units. The underlying standards have not changed.
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